The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-09-30
TALMAGES SERMON.
A Discourse on the Secret OF Sue
cess in Life.
The Uses of Adversely in Refining Mans
Metal and Leading Him to Higher
PIane-The Universe the Reflex x
of Almighty Thought.

REV. L. lie w lbb lalTnaSe mas returned TO
Brooklyn and reopened the Tabernacle,
which has been thoroughly renovated. The
| subject of his first sermon was 'sThe Prime
Minister his text being:
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph: See I have
set thee over all the land of Egypt.-Genesis
xii, A.
DR.. Talmage said: You can not keep a
good man down. God has decreed for
him a certain elevation to which he must
| attain. He will bring him through
though it cost him thousand worlds.
There are men constantly in trouble lest
they shall not be appreciated. Every man
comes in the end to be valued at just what
he is worth. How often you see men turn
out all their forces to crush one man or
set of men. How do they succeed? No
better than did the government that tried
to crush Joseph, a scripture character
upon which we speak to-day. It would
be an insult to suppose that you were not
all familiar with the life of Joseph; how
his jealous brothers threw him into the
| pit, but seeing a caravan OF Arabian m err
chants moving along on their camels with
spices and gums that loaded the air with
aroma, sold their brother to these mer-
chants, who carried him down into Egypt;
how Joseph was sold to POtiphar,
a man of influence and office;
how by his integrity he raised himself to
high position in the realm, until under the
false charge of a vile wretch he was
hurled into the penitentiary; how in
prison he commanded respect and conf
dence; how by the Interpretation of
Pharoah's dream he was freed and be-
came the chief man in government, the
Bismarck of his time; how in time of
famine Joseph had the control of a store
| house which he had filled during the seven
| years of plenty; how, when his brothers
! who had thrown him into the pit and sold
] int wit a
sent them home with their beasts borne
| down under the heft of the corn sacks;
/ how the sin against their brother which
| had so long been hidden came out at last
and was returned by that brothers for
| giveness and kindness, an illustrious
triumph of Christian principle
! Learn from this story, in the first place,
/ that the world is compelled to honor Chris
tian character Potiphar was only man
! of the world, yet Joseph rose in his esti-
| nation until all the affairs of that great
! house were committed to his charge. From
this servant no hOnors on condolences
were withheld. When Joseph in
prison he soon won the heart of the keep
er, and, though placed there for being
sc0undrel, he soon convinced the jailer
that he was an innocent and trustworthy
man, and, released from close confine-
ment, he became general superintendent
or prison affairs Wherever Joseph was
placed-whether a servant in the house of
Potiphar or prisoner in the penitentiary
he became the first man everywhere,
and is an illustration of the truth I lay
down. that the world is compelled to honor
Christian character
J There are those who affect to despise
religious life. They speak of it as a sys-
tenn of phlebotomy, by which a man is
bled of all his courage and nobility. They
say he has bemeaned himself. They pre-
tend to have no more confidence in him
since his conversion than before his
conversion. But all that is hypocrisy.
Ut is impossible for any man not
to admire and confide in Christian who
shows that he has really become child of
God and is what he processes to be. You
can not despise son or daughter of the
Lord God Almighty. OF course half-and
half religious character wins no apprOba-
tion. Redwald, the King of the SaxOns,
after Christian baptism had two affairs
one for the worship of God, and the other
for the sacrifice of devils. You may have
a contempt for such men, for mere preten-
. sion of religion, but when you behold the
/ excellency of Jesus Christ come out in the
! life of one of his disciples, all that there
is good and noble in your soul rises up
into admiration. Though that Christian
j be as far beneath you in estate as the
! Egyptian slave of whom we are discuss
ing, by an irrevocable law of our nature
| Potiphar and Pharoah will always esteem
Joseph.
Chrysostom, when threatened with
death by Eudoxia, the Empress, sent
word to her, saying: ''GO tell her that
fear nothing but sin" Such nobility of
character will always be applauded.
/ There was something in Agrippa
and Felix which demanded their
! respect for Paul, the rebel against govern
| ment. I doubt not that they would will
! for the thousandth part of that true heroism
which beamed in the eye and beat in the
heart of the unconquerable apostle. The
infidel and wording are compelled to honor
| in their hearts, though they may not
| eulogize with their lips, a Christian firm
IL persecution, cheerful in poverty, trust
full in losses, triumphant in death.
I find christian men in all professions
| and occupations, and | find them respected
! and honored and successful. John Fred
| erick Oberlin alleviating ignorance and
distress; John Howard passing from dun
! geon to Iazaretto, with healing for the body
and the soul; Elizabeth Frye coming to
! the profigate of Newgate prison to shake
! down their Obduracy, the angel ca ne to
! the prison at Philippi, driving open the
! doors and swapping locks and chains, as
| well as the lives of thousands of the fol-
| lowers of Jesus who have devoted them
selves to the temporal and spiritual well
! fare of the race, and monuments of the
| Christian religion that shall not crumble
| while the world lasts.
A man in the cars said: 81 would like to
become Christian if l only knew what
| religion is But If this lying and cheat
ing, and bad behavior among men who
1 profess to be good, is religion, want none
of it, But, my friends, if / am an artist
in Rome, and man comes to me and asks
what the art of painting is, ! must rot
! show him the daub of some pretender.
will take him to the Raphaels and the
| Michael Angeles. It is most unfair and
| dishonest to take the ignom inious failures
in Christian profession instead of the
/ glorious successes. The Bible and the
church are great picture galleries, filed
with masterpieces.
Furthermore, we learn from this story OF
Joseph that the result of persecution is
/ alienation. Had il not been for his being
sold into Egyptian bondage by his
malicious brothers and his false imprisOn-
ment, Joseph never would have become
Prime Minister. Everybody accepts the
promise:
Blessed are they that arc prosecuted for
righteousness sake, for theirs IS the kingdom
Of Heaven.
But they do not realize the fact that
this principle applies TO worldly as well as
spiritual success. 1t is true in ali depart
ments. Had it not been for Aeschnes, vino
brought Impeachment against Demosthe
nes, the immortal oration De Corona would
never have been delivered.
Men rise to high political position
through misrepresentation and the assault
of the public. Public abuse is all that
some of our public men have had TO rely
upon for their elevation. 1t has brought 10
them what talent and executive force
could never have achieved. Many Of these